American Beauty | Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

Bottle into a tulip. Vibrant copper in appearance with tons of carbonation. 2 fingers of sticky, white foam rests on top. Florals, toasted malt, and sweet granola on the nose. Medium weight and very creamy on the mouthfeel. Sweet, toasty almonds, granola, and a light hoppy bitterness up front on the taste. As it warms on the palate, these flavors expand and evolve, each becoming more pronounced. An increased bitterness comes forward on the back end with a hint of alcohol on the finish. Strong notes of granola and hops on the aftertaste.

After seeing this one on the shelf the last couple times I went to the store, I decided to grab a bottle and give it a try. At the price point, not sure I'd have pulled the trigger if it was anyone besides DFH (or someone like SN, Stone, etc.). But I figured these guys have been at it long enough to know what they're doing, and guess what? This beer is damn tasty. Great complexity, and a great balance of flavors. I've never had a beer - at least that I'm aware of - brewed with granola and almonds, but it's delicious. Like a boozy, bitter liquid granola bar.

Ok, looking back, that doesn't sound all that appealing, but trust me. This one is good.

I aged this for three years, and found that it had a completely different profile. The look had medium color to it compared to its dark color in 2014. The aroma has a somewhat root beer hint to it. The body was medium, and the taste had the same granola flavor, but a little smokier. For a 9% this beer has aged well, and produced more of the pale ale tannins then what was intended for it. If you still have a bottle, I would wait for another two years to see how it goes, but at age 3 it is a delicious sipping beer and reminds me of straub lager.

Poured into a chalice a very nice slightly cloudy dark golden orange color, very nice carbonation, with a small creamy off-white head, which leaves a pretty big island in the middle of the glass, with some nice sticky lacing. The nose is sweet, malty, with some hop notes. The taste is slightly sweet, hoppy, with some malt notes. Medium body, with a nice little bitter/dry finish. The ABV is hidden pretty well. Overall, not your typical DIPA, but a very very tasty brew for what it is. Then again on the label it sez Imperial Pale Ale. Recommended!

Pours a rich golden color with a thin fizzy head that trails the glass. The smell has a bit of toasted malt from the granola as well as a decent amount of citrus from the hops. The taste was very bright with hops being the focal point with the granola coming through in bits and pieces. Very well balanced and hides the heavy alcohol content well. Would definitely try again.

Bottled on 11-14-14; consumed on 1-9-15, making this one about 7 weeks old.

A: Poured from the bomber into a Piraat tulip/snifter-type glass. Body is clear coppery-orange with a thin off-white film of head on top. Nice, bright look to this.

S: A faint mustiness detracts from the overall impression. I get tropical fruits over sweetish malt.

T: Tropical fruity hops (mango and pineapple) up front, then after the swallow I get a balance of caramel malt and hops, with a touch of lemon showing up along with the tropical fruit. Lingering spiciness too, plus heat from the ABV felt on the way down.

M: Medium to full in heft with moderate carbonation.

O: Good. Nothing phenomenal, however. A bit sweeter than I like my DIPAs to be. Too heavy overall to be drinking till the morning comes.

T: A nice range of malt flavors are present, but that's about it. Some dried fruit, a bit of grapes, and honestly it is really light. Taste's like a 5% ABV, not 9.

M: Medium light, great carbonation.

O: A huge disappointment. After reading some other reviews, I'm worried that the server gave me the wrong the beer. Farmer's Union has over 50 taps, and our server described Sculpin IPA as "like Budweiser, but better."

Pours into an imperial nonic a deep rich golden with a large blooming white head that really takes it's time settling slowly into a frothy mass,great carbonation.Aromas are lighter with some citric hops and nutty notes.To me this is DIPA all the way on the palate minus residual sweetness,caramel and nutty malts run into dry resiny hops with some more sweetness in a lingering finish.Not bad,not overly sweet just amp up the hops a little and this would be great in my opinion.I like this beer alot more than the Dead.

A - Pours a soft, subdued pale straw yellow. A two-finger head of dense, eggshell-white foam sets up immediately and then takes its sweet time slowly collasping, leaving a generous ring of lace around the sides of the glass. After awhile, the surface is left with a large circle of loose, sudsy bubbles and a very fine sheen over the rest. Held to a full-spectrum light, the beer is a soft, muted sunset orange and somewhat cloudy, with a broad column of bubbles rising from the bottom center of the glass.

S - Gently toasted wheat crackers, oatmeal, and dry roasted nuts. Richer toasted malts in the background along with hints of caramel sugars and honey. Floral and herbal hop notes sit atop a faint trace of the ABV at the top of the glass. Overall, the nose is rich and is what communicates the imperial strength of the beer.

T - Toasted light whole grains touched by honey/light caramel sugars immediately balanced by herbal bittering hops. Individual taste components are nuanced, and make the labeling as an imperial pale ale rather than an IPA quite appropriate. The ABV is very well hidden - this glass is not the least bit hot - but the residual sugars in the profile suggest its there. As a bonus, they match the toasted malts exceptionally well. Finish offers echos of a honey-nut granola bar surrounded by light herbal hops - it's a great effect that encourages additional tasting. At times, it even drifted toward peanut butter. Big props to executing the original concept very well.

M - Rather fizzy, with good, pronounced carbination. A bit fuller body than expected, and components complement each other without being tightly integrated. Nice structure across the taste profile, offering each its own moment at the mic. Finish is moderately dry, but provides a sweet spot on the back of the tongue to savor.

O - A delicious creation that captures the spirit of those crunchy granola tripsters who worship The Dead. Give the finish some time to settle on the tongue and you'll swear you just ate a Clif Bar. Judged solely as a beer, I can see how some would want a stronger hops profile in order to better clean the sugars, but doing so would turn this into an IIPA, and would drown the taste the recipe has successfully achieved. Because of that, I recommend tasting this alone rather than attempting to pair it with food.